Peter Bodley
Managing editor for ABC Newspapers

A man, who allegedly struck and killed Lino Lakes Police Officer Shawn Silvera, a Coon Rapids High School graduate, with a stolen vehicle he was driving in early September 2005, has been indicted by an Anoka County grand jury on a pre-meditated first-degree murder charge.

Steven Douglas Stanke, 34, no permanent address, who had outstanding felony warrants from South Dakota, was originally charged with second-degree murder, fleeing police in a motor vehicle resulting in death and fleeing police in a motor vehicle resulting in great bodily harm.

With the indictment, those other charges have been dismissed.

The grand jury indictment was handed down last week, but it came at the second attempt.

When the case was first presented to a grand jury in November, a no bill was returned on a first-degree murder indictment.

Instead, the grand jury indicted Stanke for fleeing police in a motor vehicle resulting in death.

But the Anoka County Attorneyís Office took the case back to the grand jury Jan. 3 with new evidence.

ìNew evidence is the only way you can go back to a grand jury with a case,î said Andrew Johnson, assistant Anoka County Attorney, who is prosecuting Stanke with fellow Assistant Anoka County Attorney Paul Young.

According to a court document, the new evidence included testimony from federal inmates housed at the Anoka County Jail, where Stanke remains in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Stanke was back in court last week following the indictment. His next court appearance will be a contested omnibus hearing March 22.

Defense attorney Bill Ward has been given until Feb. 17 to file motions.

Silvera began his law enforcement career as a community service officer with the Coon Rapids Police Department for four years before joining the Lino Lakes Police Department in 1997.

According to the complaint, Stanke had South Dakota warrants for his arrest for felony narcotics and assault crimes and was also wanted in that state in connection with burglaries.

The vehicle he was driving, a 1996 Chevrolet Beretta, had been stolen in Sioux Falls, S.D., the complaint alleges.

Law enforcement agencies initially tried to stop Stanke in Chisago County, traveling southbound on I-35W, about 5 p.m. Sept. 6.

Silvera deployed ìstop sticksî in the left lane of southbound I-35W near County Road 23 in Lino Lakes in an effort to stop the vehicle.

The ìstop sticksî were placed in the left southbound lane and Silvera retreated to the left roadway shoulder and median crossover between the north and southbound lanes of the freeway. His emergency lights were activated, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the driver of the Beretta steered to left, crossing the left southbound lane and drove directly at Silvera, striking and killing him.

There were no vehicles in the path of the Beretta in either lane when it was turned at Silvera, the complaint alleged.

The speed during the pursuit was estimated in excess of 100 mph and Silveraís bodywas thrown some 280 feet from where he was struck, according to the complaint.

In a statement, Stanke alleged he knew he hit the police officer, that he was being chased by police and that he had warrants out for his arrest from South Dakota.

He also allegedly admitted the car he was driving was stolen, that he had ì80 years over his headî in South Dakota and that during the police chase he was thinking that he did not want to live.

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